Poker is a card game that involves betting over a series of rounds. The player with the highest hand wins the pot. The game has several variants and different ways of making a five-card hand, but the fundamentals are similar: Players pay an up front amount (the ante) to get their cards, then place bets into a pot in the middle over the course of the round.
The first thing to learn is relative hand strength. Pocket kings and queens are pretty strong hands, but they’re not invincible. The flop might have tons of straight and flush cards, and that’s when you need to start thinking of ways to get your opponent to fold.
After everyone has their 2 hole cards, the dealer deals another 4 cards face up, called the flop. Then there is a second round of betting, starting with the player to the left of the dealer.
If you want to raise the bet, then you say “raise.” Then every other player can choose to call or fold.
After all the betting rounds are over, the last 5 cards are revealed. The player with the highest ranked hand wins the pot. You can also win by continuing to bet that you have the best hand until all the other players drop out. This is known as a showdown. The player who has the highest ranked hand when the cards are shown is deemed the winner of the showdown.
